Like kitchen knifes used for slicing bread or for carving meat and fish, rechargeable battery operated kitchen knives have become necessary in most homes. Such knives typically comprise a knife handle containing a motor and batteries and employ a pair of slideably disposed, serrated knife blades to cut food by reciprocating action. The set of blades is removably fixed into the knife handle and powered by the motor. The blades are typically sharp, move rapidly when in use, and are inserted into and removed from the knife handle by hand.
Users are often careful not to cut themselves while using such knives to cut food, recognizing the danger of the moving blades. However, a user may lower this level of care when inserting the blades into the knife's handle or removing them, and so may cut themselves inadvertently on the exposed knife's serrated edges. The chances of being cut increase each time a set of blades is handled, and each set is typically handled twice per use, namely once to insert and once to remove the blades.
To insert a set of blades, a user generally holds the knife handle in one hand while grasping and inserting the set of blades into the handle with the other hand. Often, pressure must be applied to firmly seat the blades within the handle, and the pressure is borne by the blades bearing hand of the user.
To remove the blades, a knife's handle may have a release mechanism activated by the user, which releases the blades so that they may fall out of the handle onto a surface below. The user then picks them up for cleaning or storage. Alternatively, blades are removed when the user activates the release mechanism with one hand while grasping and pulling the blades with the other hand. Some knives do not have a release mechanism and rely on the user being able to firmly grasp and remove the blades by grasping and pulling alone.
A user may own several blade sets, each set configured to cut a different food. Since each knife handle typically holds only one set of blades at a time, the idle sets of blades need to be stored safely. When the sets are pairs of reciprocating blades, the slideably interconnected blades sit side by side, and each set of blades is thicker than a conventional knife's single blade. Consequently, a set of electric knife blades typically can't be stored in conventional knife blocks for single bladed knives.
Without safe storage, removable blades are often kept loose in a utensil drawer or some container. A user must then grasp the blades to remove them, often while pushing aside other utensils or objects, providing another opportunity for being cut by the serrated blades. As each blade is sharp and the pair of them often slip or slide relative to one another while they are being handled, it is not surprising when a user is cut while handling a set of blades.
Users are typically careful to keep a knife away from a child or infant while it is assembled and being used. But children are known for reaching up onto kitchen counters or into drawers and grabbing at harmful objects, such as a pair of loose knife blades or even an assembled rechargeable knife. It is easy to imaging how a child could be injured by the exposed blades.
A child or young person using an electric knife may not know the correct pressure to apply to the edge of the blades while grasping them for removal or insertion, or the knife handle may slip out of the child's grasp. In an attempt to recover, the child may be cut in an attempt to grab the falling knife or blades.
Standard or traditional knives, comprising a knife blade fixed to a knife handle, often are stored, blade down, in slots defined within a “knife block,” and the knives are held therein by gravity. Even so, a knife block storage system does not provide the safest means for storing such knives, as the knives will typically fall out of the slots, exposing the knife blades, if the block is tipped or falls.
It is the object of the instant invention to provide a safer knife storage device. It is another object of the invention to provide a safer knife blade changing device. It is another object of the invention to provide methods for safely inserting, removing and changing knife blades.